Shades
by ttamariindo
Summary: So, we have basketball players who never miss, basketball players who disappear and basketball players who see the future. That I believe, but I draw the line at basketball players who have natural rainbow-colored hair. (Or: the one where they all dye their hair.)


It all started when Satsuki got it into her head that dying her hair pink would be a good idea.

She had read an article in a fashion magazine about how hair dye was the new trend. Brunettes and blonds were last season apparently, and with spring just around the corner every girl who was someone - or wanted to be someone - was dyeing their hair all kinds of colours. Soft pastel shades seemed to be the top choice for this season and Satsuki felt the beginning of an idea starting to take form in her head as she flipped through the pages of the magazine. The girls on the fotos all looked gorgeous, be it with mint-green tresses, soft shades of purple or downy light-blue locks. They stood out, a bright spot of color among an endless sea of black and brown. Their hair making them unique in a way Satsuki jealously hoped she herself could be.

The girl looked down at her own locks of hair, caught between shades of blond and light brown. She scowled in displeasure. Her hair was so boring, so simple and ordinary, thought Satsuki as she compared its colour to that of a girl in one of the fotos. That light shade of purple would make anyone stand out, mused the girl. That realisation brought a bitter smile to her face, it could make _her_ stand out, she who blended into the crowd of female students easily enough.

So Satsuki, who was thirteen and impresionable, as all girls her age tended to be, had immediately latched onto the idea and badgered her mother for weeks till she finally caved and agreed to let her dye her hair. That Friday, after basketball practice was over and the regular team had gotten their daily ice cream at the store near Teiko, Satsuki's mother took her to a shopping mall and let her choose the hair dye she wanted.

Brimming with barely contained excitement Satsuki scanned the different aisles for the colour that would suit her best. She went straight for the bright hues, bypassing the black and blond dyes. She ignored the reds and the blues, knowing both colours would clash horribly with her pink eyes. She hesitated a bit when she saw a pale green dye but ultimately settled for a light pink one. The box said it was easy to use and that it would only take a couple of hours for the colour to settle. Satsuki smiled brightly, already imagining the amazed and jealous looks her classmates would give her when she turned up with pink locks on Monday. Everyone would notice her, she thought happily, they would recognise her easily and finally think of her as more than just the manager of their unbeatable basketball team. So she grabbed the box of dye and went skipping in search of her mother to pull her along to the check-out counter so they could pay and get started as soon as possible.

Unfortunately, it was that very same excitement that made the thirteen-year-old misread the instructions on the box in her hurry to get started. This led to Satsuki using the whole packet of dye in one go instead of the quarter she should have put into the dye mixture. So after the two hours had passed and Satsuki let her hair finally fall down from the plastic bag she had used to keep the dye in while she waited, her reflection in the mirror showed not the light-pink tresses the box had promised but a garish shade of hot pink.

The girl let out a scream of shock and horror at the sight and immediately burst into tears. This was not what she wanted, thought Satsuki frantically as she pulled a strand of hair closer to her face and flinched when she realised that, _yes_ , her hair really was that awful colour and _no_ , it had not been a trick of the light. She tore her eyes away for the mirror and hid her face in her hands. This was a _nightmare._ When she said that she wanted to stand out she did not mean _this._ She couldn't go to school looking like some kind of barbie commercial, the whole school would laugh at her. Satsuki felt dread settle into her stomach as she realised that today was Friday, which meant that she had only two days to fix this mess or arrange an undefined vacation to another country far, far away if she couldn't find the way to reverse the damage.

And so, Satsuki did the same thing she always did when she found herself in trouble.

She called Dai-chan.

* * *

Aomine had been just about to dunk the orange ball through the hoop when he heard his phone ringing. He sighed in annoyance at being interrupted but made his way to the corner of the public court where he had dropped his bag anyways. He recognised the ringtone as Satsuki's, so there really was no other option but to answer. Aomine knew from experience just how ignoring his childhood's friends call ended up for him. (Painfully).

He passed Tetsu on the way to his bag, taking a few seconds to kick lightly at his best friend and check if the poor guy was still breathing. He got a swat in return for his trouble and Aomine could't help but grin when he heard the exhausted whimper that came with the action. It was Tetsu's fault anyways, thought the dark-skinned boy as he riffled into his sportsbag for his cellphone, he was the one who wanted to practice basketball after school. It was not Aomine's fault that the other couldn't keep up.

"Hello," said Aomine as he answered the phone only to immediately pull the device as far away from him as possible when an ear-piercing screech came through the line. "The hell Satsuki!?" exclaimed Aomine as the screaming died down. He saw Tetsu slowly standing up out of the corner of his eye. The brown-haired boy shot him a concerned look, no doubt having heard Satsuki's banshee screech too but all Aomine could do was shrug, he was just as confused as the other boy.

"Dai-chaaaaan," was Satsuki's only answer and Aomine was instantly on alert. He knew that tone of voice, how could he not when he had spend years besides Satsuki? That high pitch and the breathless voice always meant that the girl had been crying. Aomine tightened his grip on the phone, concern for his childhood friend rising, "what happened Satsuki? What's wrong?"

"I made a horrible mistake, Dai-chan," whined Satsuki, "where are you right now?"

"I'm at the basketball court near your house," answered Aomine, trying to keep the worry from creeping into his voice. " I'm with Tetsu," Aomine paused for a moment, waiting for the shout of delight that always followed any mention of the girl's crush but as the seconds went by and all he could hear were Satsuki's quite sniffles he asked, "do you want us to go over?"

"Can you?" the tentative but hopeful tone of Satsuki's voice was all Aomine needed. He made a gesture for Tetsu to grab his bag as he did the same. "Sure, Tetsu and I'll be there in ten okay?"

"Okay, thank you Dai-chan," said Satsuki, relief clear in her voice as she said goodbye before the line went dead. Aomine looked down at Tetsu, the brown-haired boy was giving him a questioning look. "Satsuki needs us," was all Aomine said by way of explanation. Tetsu looked at him, expression blank but for the slight pinch in his brows that gave away just how worried the other boy really was. After a few seconds Tetsu nodded and they both left the basketball court, walking faster than normal. If Satsuki needed them, then there was no question about what to do.

Aomine knocked on the door and tried not to fidget as he and Tetsu waited for someone to open it. The feeling of worry had only grown on the walk here and the dark-skinned boy had had too much time to imagine what could have made Satsuki react that way. None of the possibilities had been very pretty.

The door opened and Aomine was about to start demanding explanations from the person standing on the threshold when he realised that it was not Satsuki standing before him, but Satsuki's mother.

"Ah, hello Aomine-kun, Kuroko-kun," said the woman looking at them kindly, "if you're here for Satsuki then I'm afraid you'll have to return some other time. She's, um, she's indisposed." Aomine shared a look with Kuroko, wariness beginning to dig its roots into him. _What the hell had happened?_

"That's actually what we are here for," said Aomine, "Satsuki called me and asked us to come." Ms. Momoi's expression became surprised for a moment before it settled into relief. "Well then, come on in," she stepped aside and let them into the hallway, Tetsu bowing politely before entering as Aomine made himself at home just like he always had.

"She's up in the bathroom," said Satsuki's mother as she saw them both looking around for their manager. Aomine nodded and climbed up the stairs quickly, Tetsu right at his heels. The taller boy knocked on the bathroom door hurriedly and said, "hey Satsuki, it's us. Open the door."

Their only answer was a sniffle.

"C'mon Satsuki," Aomine tried again. They heard a shuffle and then came Satsuki's voice, barely above a breath, "you have to promise me you won't laugh."

"I promise not to laugh Momoi-san," said Tetsu, voice pitched low as if he were trying to calm a frightened animal, "please open the door."

"Dai-chan has to promise too."

Aomine growled lowly, patience running thin. Tetsu shot him a look that promised death if he didn't comply though, so the older boy took a deep breath and said, "alright Satsuki, I promise I won't laugh but you have to open the door _right now._ "

There was a click and then the door opened a fraction. Aomine immediately made his way inside, his eyes going straight to Satsuki who was sitting on the bathroom floor, back towards the shower and a towel hanging over her head. "What's this all about?" Just then Satsuki lifted her head, her pinks eyes locking with his blue ones as the towel slid over her face and on top of the floor and _oh_ , thought Aomine, _oh shit_.

"Oh shit."

Satsuki burst into tears at once, hiding her face between her knees. Tetsu pushed Aomine out of the way and went over to the pink-haired girl. _The pink-haired girl,_ thought Aomine almost frantically, because Satsuki's natural light-brown hair was now some horrid shade of magenta. The color was almost hypnotic with how bright it was. Aomine could't tear his eyes always from it, gaping at his childhood friend who was now huddled into Tetsu and crying her eyes out. The brown-haired boy shot him a reproachful look and Aomine shook his head to rid his eyes of the pink haze that had come over them from staring at Satsuki's hair for far too long. He made his way over to the two of them and patted Satsuki lightly on her pink head. _Pink head_ , jesus, what had she been thinking?

"It's not that bad Satsuki," said Aomine in an attempt at comfort but immediately flinched when the girl turned from Tetsu's shoulder to glare at him.

"Of course it's that bad!" screeched Satsuki as she shot up to her feet, "my hair's ruined now. Ruined! I've messed everything up just because I wanted to stand out..." she took a deep breath, wiping away the tear tracks on her face. "I'm gonna be the laughing stock of the whole school on Monday. God, how could I be so stupid!?"

"We can fix this Satsuki," said Aomine as he hugged the girl to his chest and let her hide her face in his shirt. He shot an almost desperate look at Tetsu because Satsuki was right. If she went to school on Monday looking like she did right now there would be no saving her from the embarrassment and the teasing that was sure to come. The brown-haired boy looked thoughtful for a moment before he nodded at Aomine. "I think I have a way to fix this, Momoi-san," said Kuroko gently as Satsuki turned to look at him hopefully.

"Really?" asked Satsuki, "you can fix my hair?" Kuroko nodded, smiling at the girl softly and taking her hand in his, causing the girl to blush (something that clashed horribly with the shade of pink of Satsuki's hair, though Aomine wasn't suicidal enough to point that out).

"Maybe not _fix_ , but I do know how to make it better." Satsuki threw herself at Tetsu and hugged him till the younger boy turned blue in the face. "We are going to need some things though and..." Kuroko paused here, shooting Aomine a look that the other boy knew from experience never meant anything good for him, "we'll need Aomine-kun's help."

Satsuki turned pleading pink eyes to him and Aomine caved, not that he even bothered to resist, already knowing that he would do everything she asked of him when she looked at him like that.

"Of course," said Aomine resolutely, "I'll do anything to help Satsuki."

* * *

 _"There's no way in hell I'm doing that!"_

Tetsu glared at him, pale blue eyes narrowed and hands on his hips, "Aomine-kun said he would do anything to help Momoi-san," pointed out the brown-haired boy calmly as Aomine continued to flail around the store's aisle.

"Yeah, cause I didn't think that dyeing my hair green was part of your psycho plan!" shouted Aomine, flipping the bird at a couple who glared at him for his outburst. He had every right to overreact damnit.

"Don't be stupid Aomine-kun," said Testu as he sighed softly, "dark blue would suit you much better."

"Why you little-"

"Tetsu-kun!" said Satsuki as she came towards them waving a box of some sort of hair product excitedly, "I found the hair-lightener!" The girl, whose head was wrapped up in a black bandana without a single strand of hot-pink hair in sight, handed the brown-haired boy the hair product. Tetsu took the offered box, checked it over once and then nodded at the girl. "This is perfect Momoi-san, now we just need to find Aomine-kun's hair dye."

"What?" asked Stasuki, looking between both boys in bewilderment, "why would Dai-chan dye his hair too?"

"That's exactly what I want to know," growled Aomine as he continued to glare at Tetsu. The younger boy sighed and shot him one last look of reproach before turning to Satsuki, "the hair-lightener will not be able to return your hair to how it was before Momoi-san." Satsuki whimpered a little and brought a hand up to her head, but Kuroko smiled at her in reassurance, "that's why I think it would be a good idea for Aomine-kun to dye his hair too," said Kuroko, "that way, the attention of the studentbody will be divided between the two of you. It would seem- not normal - but at least not as strange if the two of you showed up with dyed hair."

Satsuki nodded thoughtfully before turning to look at Aomine with kicked-puppy eyes, "will you do it Dai-chan?"

Aomine turned his face away from her, not wanting to look at her and give in so easily like he had before. Sure, he had said he would do anything for her and he had meant it, but this was downright _insane_. He could already hear the mocking sneers and feel the stares of his classmates. He would become the school's running joke if he did this. But then again, reminded him his treacherous brain, so will Satsuki if you don't do this for her. Aomine groaned loudly, letting his shoulder sag, "fine," he said looking right at Satsuki, "I'll do it."

The girl squealed in delight as she threw herself at Aomine. The bandana slid right of her head, letting her pink locks of hair fall free, although for once Satsuki didn't seem to mind. "You're the best Dai-chan!"

"Yeah, yeah," answered Aomine as he patted her head. The pink-haired girl took his hand and led him towards the aisle where the hair dyes were. "This would look good on you," said Satsuki as she thrust a dark blue box into his hands. Aomine eyed the color carefully before shrugging. The box said the color was called midnight blue and it seemed dark enough. The basketball player ruffled his strands of black hair and let himself have a second to mourn them before saying, "this one's fine I think." Satsuki gave him a bright smile before turning to Tetsu, who had been smirking at him since Aomine first agreed to go along with his evil machinations.

"Look Tetsu-kun," said Satsuki as she bounded up to Kuroko with another box of dye in her hands, "this one is the same shade as your eyes. It's perfect for you!"

Tetsu's smirk fell right of his face as he turned to look at Satsuki like a deer caught in the headlights, pale blue eyes shining with something akin to horror as the girl handed the box of hair product over to him. "I- l won't be, ah, dyeing my hair Momoi-san," said Tetsu carefully. At once Satsuki's face fell and she looked at Tetsu in a mix of disappointment and betrayal. "But it was your idea!" cried the pink-haired girl, "you said the attention would be divided between me and Dai-chan if he dyed his hair, right?" Kuroko nodded, albeit reluctantly, probably because he already knew just where this conversation was heading. "So if you dye your hair then the attention would be divided even more!"

"Yeah Tetsu," said Aomine, smiriking down at the brown-haired boy, though not for much longer, thought Aomine gleefully, "don't you wanna help Satsuki out?"

"Of- of course I do," stuttered Tetsu, his normally blank face close to panic as he heard Satsuki beginning to whimper, "but it really wouldn't make that much of a difference since my presence is so low. No one would notice the change."

Aomine smirked, "then that's the more reason to do it, don't you think?" The taller boy tried to keep his vicious glee at having caught Tetsu in his own trap away from his voice. He failed miserably, if the way Kuroko was glaring at him was any indication. "If nobody'll notice then you don't have to be ashamed and you can still give us moral support by dyeing your hair too."

"Yeah! You'll do it, right Tetsu-kun? For me?" said Satsuki as she turned her pleading eyes to Tetsu. Aomine could pinpoint the exact moment when his best friend caved under Satsuki's puppy-eyes in the way his shoulder dropped in resignation and the little sight he let out. "For you then, Momoi-san," said the younger boy dejectedly.

Satsuki screamed in joy as she pulled both Kuroko and Aomine into a hug. "You are the best friends a girl could ever ask for!"

Aomine huffed but ruffled Satsuki's pink hair nonetheless. He saw Kuroko smiling softly from where he was squashed in between him and Satsuki and in that moment Aomine thought that together they could face whatever their classmates threw at them.

Oh, how foolish he had been.

* * *

Aomine gritted his teeth as he pushed his way trough the gaggle of students staring at him, some in shock, some in amusement and some in a mix of both. The dark-skinned boy ruffled his now dark-blue strands of hair self-consciously as he rounded a corner and stepped into his classroom. A deadly silence came over the room as Aomine's classmates gawked at his new look. Sourly, the blue-haired boy sat at his desk and let his head drop onto his desk, cursing Tetsu for the nth time that day for getting him to go along with his crazy plan. Tough Aomine had to give it to the other boy, it really had worked like he said. Satsuki's hair was now a soft pink, highlighted in a few spots by a darker shade of the color where the hair-lightened hadn't worked it's magic that well. All in all, it didn't look half bad. The girl had even gotten a few compliments form a few of her classmates. Not Aomine tough, all the basketball player had received were bewildered glances and the ocasional sneer. Still, it meant that he had successfully diverted the attention of the student body away from Satsuki, so he counted this day as a win.

He heard someone settle into the seat beside him and Aomine lifted his head to look. Tetsu's blank face greeted him. The younger boy was faring better than both him and Satsuki. Until now nobody appeared to have noticed the change in hair color, tough Aomine had trouble _not_ seeing it. The pale blue of Kuroko's hair gave the other boy a weird look. It made his skin look paler than it already was and with his low presence Kuroko seemed to fade into the background, like a drawing someone tried to erase but couldn't quite manage it.

Aomine shook his head to rid himself of those unsettling thoughts and grunted at the other boy in acknowledgment. Kuroko just smirked at him, "good morning to you too as well Aomine-kun. How was your morning?"

Aomine opened his mouth to retort but before he could, the door to their classroom slammed open and a blond blur came barrelling in.

"Oh my god Aominecchi it's really true!" shouted Kise as he came to stand before Aomine's desk, hands firmly planted over the blue-haired boy's notebook and chest heaving as he tried to catch his breath. "Everyone was talking about how you dyed your hair and got a nose piercing and a tattoo. Are you part of the yakuza now Aominecchi?!" Kise was looking at him desperately, gold eyes wide an franctic.

Aomine scowled at him. "Do I look like I got a nose piercing, you idiot?" growled Aomine as his brow twitched in annoyance, "of course I'm not part of the yakuza."

"But you did dye your hair," pointed out Kise, eyeing the top of Aomine's blue mop of hair critically. He seemed more calm now though and he was no longer looking at Aomine like the blue-haired boy was seconds away from taking out a knife and stabbing him. Something that Aomine was serioulsy considering doing, though it had more to do with Kise's demanding questions than with him being a thug.

"That has nothing to do with the yakuza Kise-kun," said Tetsu from the left. The blond wiped around in surprise, having just noticed the other boy's presence. His eyes immediately fell onto Kuroko's hair, no longer it's chocolate shade of brown but a pale looking blue.

"You too Kurokocchi?!" cried Kise as he flailed his arms, "is this some kind of basketball initiation I'm not aware of? Do I have to dye my hair too?"

Kuroko sighed, but answered the blond nonetheless, "that's not the case Kise-kun. It was just a way to help Momoi-san."

"Huh?" asked Kise in confusion, "what happened to Momoicchi?"

And so both Tetsu and Kuroko filled Kise in on the situation. By the end of the recounting Kise was looking at them both in wonder, saying over and over again how good frieds they were, something that had both blue-haired boys blushing madly. Through his mortification, Aomine noticed how Kise's presence deviated his classmate's attention form himself and Kuroko. Apparently, Kise's popularity as a model beat his new fashion make-over, not that the blue-haired boy minded.

But then the bell rang and Kise beat a hasty retreat to his own classroom, leaving the boy's to deal with their classmates' stares on their own.

The day went on and by the time that third period rolled around Aomine had already gotten used to the stares and no longer payed them any mind. When the time for basketball practice came and Aomine stepped into the gym the rest of the Generation of Miracles and their captain were already caught up to the situation thanks to Kise's love for gossip, so there were no surprised gasps or accusations of any shady alliances he may have had.

No one dared to mention Satsuki's hair, which was done up in it's usual high ponytail, a bright pink beacon of color amidst the see of Teiko's light-blue and white uniforms. The only guy who tried to say something about the manager's new look was promptly shot down by Akashi. The auburn haired vice-captain narrowed his red eyes at the second-string player and after a few seconds under the imposing stare the guy stuttered out an apology and hightailed it out of the gym.

Midorima took one look at Aomine and Kuroko, pursed his lips in what might have been annoyance or laughter, Aomine couldn't tell for certain, and then went back to shooting three-pointers. Murasakibara made no comment, although he did pat both of their blue heads as he passed them by.

Nijimura-senpai looked from Aomine to Kuroko to Satsuki and then promptly face palmed. He groaned something that Aomine couldn't quite catch but sounded suspiciously like _kids these days_ and made Akashi's eyes bright with laughter before he called for everyone to start practicing and that was it.

At least until Kise showed up at Aomine's house with Kuroko on his left, Satsuki on his right and a box of hair dye in his hand, declaring that if having weird coloured hair was not a basketball tradition then he was gonna make it one.

"My manager said that if I dyed my hair she was gonna fire me, so I can't go all out like you three did but this should do it," said Kise as he held up the hair dye for them to see. The blond was sitting on a stool in front of Aomine's bathroom mirror, the rest of them huddle around him to read the instructions in the back of box.

"Isn't your manager your sister though, Ki-chan?" asked Satsuki as she opened up the box and took out the satchel filled with powder. "Yeah, she is," answered Kise as he poured some water into a bowl and handed it over to Kuroko, "that doesn't mean she won't fire me."

Aomine took the cup with the powder of dye that Satsuki handed him and poured it into the bowl. Kuroko began stirring the mix as Satsuki put plastic bags over her hands. "But I don't care if she does, this is more than worth it!"

Satsuki put a bit of the mixture in her hands and began applying it carefully to Kise's hair, eyes fixed on the blond strands, soon to be honey-sunshine yellow if the name of the dye was to be believed. "Besides" said Kise, "the dye color is not that weird, is only a bit more yellow than my natural hair color actually." Tetsu made a noice of agreement as he held out the bowl to Satsuki when she asked for more mixture.

"It would be super awesome if we got Midorimacchi and Murasakibaracchi to dye their hair! Maybe Akashicci would do it too," Kise gushed as Satsuki turned his head towards the left, "then we all could have weird-coloured hair."

"I think Mu-kun would be okay with it," answered Satsuki, brows furrowed in concentration as she worked.

"Yes," agreed Tetsu, "especially if we offer him some candy in return."

"Wait," said Aomine as he stared at his best friend in surprise, "you really want the others to dye their hair too?" asked the blue-haired boy while he clamped down a hand over Kise's shoulders to keep the blond form moving too much and messing up Satsuki's work. It was not that he was opposed to the idea, quite the opposite actually. The chance to see Midorima doing something as undignified as dying his perfectly kept blond hair was too good to pass up, but he had never expected the same from Tetsu, who was always unfailingly polite and forever respectful of others.

The younger boy actually blushed as he answered, "I, ah, quite like the idea." Kise turned his head to look at Kuroko and smirked at the blue-haired boy, "you just want us to be like the group of heroes you are always reading about, don't you Kurokococchi? The ones who also have weird-colored hair."

Tetsu's blush got redder but his voice was still deadly when he said, "stop moving Kise-kun, you wouldn't want your hair to turn up bad." Kise just winked at the boy in response and let Satsuki continue her work.

"So," said Satsuki a few minutes later after she was done applying the mixture, "Ki-chan's all done, we just need to wait a few hours for the color to settle. I vote we do Mu-kun next. What do you boys say?"

The three mischievous grins she got in return were answer enough.

* * *

The day after Kise's impromptu fashion make-over found the four of them split into two groups. Kise and Satsuki, both being well-versed in the art of shopping, went in search of the perfect hair dye for Murasakibara while Aomine and Kuroko set out to find the limited edition of maibo that had come out a week ago which would serve as their bait.

Finding the dye was easy enough. After a quick deliberation Satsuki and Kise settled for a pastel shade of purple that matched the color of Murasakibara's eyes almost perfectly. Coming across the special candy was a bit trickier though, but after searching in a few grocery stores Aomine managed to spot a few tucked into a corner and Kuroko snatched them right out of another's kids nose using his misdirection, which Aomine hadn't ever been more grateful for.

So come Monday morning the four of them set out to enact their plan.

Basketball practice went by smoothly as always. Warm-up drills, laps around the gym and a few practice matches, nothing out of the ordinary. Although there was one thing that stood out that day.

Nobody but Akashi seemed to have noticed the change in Kise's hair color. His locks were admittedly more yellowish now than the sunshine blond they had been before the dye, but the change was subtle enough for it to go unnoticed by the students and their regular basketball team. Akashi though, had taken one look at Kise, sighed and then complimented the blond on his new look. Kise had looked completely baffled for a moment, not expecting anyone to notice, before shouting in joy and throwing himself at Akashi to hug the shorter boy and, surprisingly, their vice-captain had let him cling for a few seconds before gracefully disentangling himself.

So Kise hadn't had to deal with the stares and the questions like Aomine, Kuroko and Satsuki had had too, that is until their captain put a hand over Kise's head, intending to ruffle his hair in congratulations after the yellow-blond scored a perfect dunk and then proceeded to stare at the strands for a full thirty second before bursting into laughter. "Of course you wouldn't be far behind," choked out the third year in between gasping breaths, "I should have seen this coming." Kise just grinned up at the captain before bounding up to demand that Aomine play one-on-one with him.

After that, everyone fell into their routine once again, although a bunch of Kise's fangirls showed up to gush over his new hair and question him about the change. They all went to their usual spot for ice cream and popsicles, and after they all had said their goodbyes, Kise made the first move.

"Hey, Murasakibaracchi," said Kise, all smiles and sugar-sweet tone, "did you hear about the special candy flavour maibo made for their anniversary?" The brown-haired giant turned to look at Kise, a curious gleam in his usually apathetic purple eyes. "Yeah, I did Kise-chin," Murasakibara pouted, "but I didn't get to try them. The store run out before I could buy some."

"Really?" asked Kise in fake surprise as Aomine tried to hide his smirk, "because I've got a few left in my house if you want them..." Murasakibara perked up visibly at that. "You'd give them to me?" he asked tentatively, tone bordering on hopeful.

"Sure!" Kise smiled brightly, sealing the deal with, "I think I actually have some clementine ones too, I know those are hard to come by."

And that's how Murasakibara ended up going to Kise's house with the rest of them, who all claimed they were having a study session. They were sitting in Kise's living room, books, pens and pieces of papers spread out around them as they all pretended to study while Murasakibara chewed on his special maibo when Satsuki ushered them all into the bathroom, which earned bewildered stares from both Kise's mother and sister when they saw the five of them crammed together in the upstairs bathroom.

Murasakibara didn't protest at the change, simply following after them. He didn't uttter a single word as Kise pushed him down on the chair Aomine had set before the mirror either, he simply unwrapped another maibo. He did pause on his chewing when Satsuki promptly proclamied that se was going to dye his hair, though. The brown-haired boy had looked at them for a moment, his purple eyes setting on their bright mops of hair, stopping longer on Kise's, before asking them about the color.

Satsuki handed him the box of dye and Aomine felt an air of silent apprehension settle over the bathroom. Up until now, Murasakibara hand't put up any complaints but this was the decisive moment. If Murasakibara refused to go along with their plan, then there was nothing any of them could do.

"I looks like my favourite grape-flavoured lollipop," said the brown-haired boy philosophically. Everyone held their breath. Aomine felt Satsuki squeeze his hand in a death grip as Kise clutched Kuroko in his arms, the other boy to nervous far too protest. "I like it."

As one, the four of them let out a breath of relief. Aomine grinned at the other boy and slapped a hand over his shoulders. Kise was talking excitedly a mile a minutes as Tetsu watched with a contend smile on his face and Satsuki got the dye mixture ready.

The process of dying Murasakibara's hair purple took them longer than anyone would've thought, even with all four of them working together. His locks were longer and thicker than any Satsuki had dyed before, so by the time she had finished, night had fallen and the moon was high in the sky. After a quick talk with Kise's mother and a few phone calls they arranged for a sleepover since everyone had their schools things with them and going to Teiko in the morning was a simple matter of taking a direct bus line to the school.

They all piled into Kise's room, exhausted and ready to crash. Kise's mother had set out a few futons for them to sleep in down in the living room but the four boys ended sprawled all over the floor of Kise's bedroom either way while Satsuki took Kise's bed. Aomine didn't know whose arm was whose or even on whose stomach he was laying but he was far too tired to try and figure it out. Althoug they slept in a mess, they were all mindful of Murasakibara's head, which was still wrapped up in an old towel, waiting for the colour to settl.

They woke up pretty early, the five of them far too excited about seeing Murasakibara's new matching hair color to be able to sleep for much longer. Carefully, Aomine unraveled the towel and let Murasakibara's locks spring free. The color fit the tall boy perfectly, thought Aomine as he watched Kise slowly card a comb over Murasakibara's hair. The shade of purple was soft enough to match that of his eyes and the length went nicely with the hue. Satsuki squealed in delight when she saw the result of all their hard work and Aomine grinned in accomplishment. Kuroko smiled softly up at the now purple-haired boy, who was looking at his reflection in the Murasakibara version of amazed. That is to say that his eyelids were more open than normal and his eyes were actually focused on the mirror.

The boy brought a hand up to his hair and carded his fingers through it. He then took his time to ruffle each of the other's hair and for once, Aomine let him. "Thank you, Sa-chin, Kuro-chin," said Murasakibara, voice a bit more alight with sentiment than what Aomine was used to hearing from the boy, "thanks to you too, Kise-chin, Mine-chin."

Aomine nodded at him, grin still fixed on his face. Five down, two more to go, thought the blue-haired boy, although the last ones were also the hardest ones.

Apparently Kise must have been thinking along the same lines because he asked, "any idea of how we'll get Midorimacchi to dye his hair too? We still need the green color to become a full rainbow."

"A full rainbow?" asked Aomine in confusion. "Yeah!" answered Kise in excitement as he looked at all of them, "If we get Midorimacchi and Akashicchi to dye their hair in green and red then the whole Generation of Miracles will have the colors of the rainbow as hair color. It would be really cool, especially given our captain's last name."

Satsuki humed in response. "I hadn't thought about it that way, but it makes sense, weirdly enough." Aomine had to agree. Even though this had started as a way to help out his friend when she needed it, as he looked around at his teammembers huddled around in a bathroom, their hair making an array of bright colors, the light reflecting of the shades of pink, purple, light-blue, yellow and his own hue of dark-blue, he couldn't help but notice the two missing shades.

"Then we have to figure out a way of completing the rainbow," said Aomine as he grinned at his friends. "Anyone have any ideas?"

At that Satsuki's smile turned downright predatory, "I do actually," said the girl in a tone of voice that made the other four boys shudder in apprehension and thank god that they weren't the target of whatever plan the pink-haired manager was hatching. "Akashi-kun just told me that the captain scheduled a training camp for the upcoming week, you know what this means?"

"Midorima-kun will be forced to be in close quarters with us for a whole week," said Kuroko as he shared a look with Satsuki. The pink-haired girl nodded, "that's right Tetsu-kun. That means that he will have to share his precious personal space with the rest of us."

"Which gives us the perfect opportunity to catch him off guard," continued Kuroko. The calculating gleam in his pale blue eyes made Aomine fear for Midorima's life for a moment.

"Exactly," agreed Satsuki. She shot them all a triumphant look as she put her right hand forward. Aomine wasted no time in following her example and let his hand rest on top of hers, the rest of his team following suit.

"Midorima-kun won't know what hit him."

* * *

Since Kise's hair color change had been missed by the whole student body, Murasakibara's turn to the bright side, as Satsuki was now referring to their crusade to dye their team's hair the colors of the rainbow, had the whole of Teiko in an uproar. Rumours started going around that the basketball team was secretly dealing drugs for the mafia and that the weird hair colours were a ritual of initiation. Some people thought that they were starting a gang of thugs to rival the yakuza or were at least intending to join it. But even though the majority of the rumours were all along the vein of them becoming criminals, the most accepted theory of them all was, weirdly enough, that they were trying to become pop idols aside from basketball players. Aomine decided to blame that one on Kise and found that skipping class to take naps on the school's roof was a foolproof way of avoiding his stupid classmate's stares and questions.

Murasakibara entered the gym just a few minutes late for basketball practice, licking a lollipop without a care in the world as he went over to greet Akashi and Nijimura-senpai like he always did. Midorima took one look at him, green eyes going wide in disbelief as he saw the giant's brand new purple hair and then threw his hands up in the air. "Not you too!" screamed the blond in frustration. Murasakibara just patted the shooting guard in the head and said to him, "you should do it too, Mido-chin. My hair's super soft now." Midorima glared at the center as he brandished a patterned fan across Murasakibara's face (no doubt that day's lucky item), "I will not participate in this nonsense, I'll have you know."

"Don't worry Mido-chin, you'll come around soon enough," with that, the purple-haired center went over to Akashi, who chided him softly for being late but still complimented him on his new look anyways before telling him to go warm up. Nijimura-senpai looked up from the many papers he had been going over in preparation for their training camp, stared at Murasakibara for a few seconds before saying, "figures it would be purple," and then dove straight back into the hell of paper pushing.

The week passed agonisingly slowly for the five of them. None of them could wait another second for the training camp and their chance to catch Midorima in their trap. Even Murasakibara perked up when someone mentioned the upcoming trip. So it was no surprise when they were the first to arrive at the school the day they were set to start their trip.

The basketball regulars, made up of mostly just the Generation of Miracles, their captain and a few reserve players, were all staying at an inn near a nature park in the mountains where they were going to train for the next weak. The housing, more of a big cottage really, was barely big enough to fit all of them, so most of the facilities had to be shared, like the showers for example, which gave them the chance they needed. After much deliberation they had decided to strike on Wednesday, the third day of their training camp, so that Midorima would already have let his guard down but still leaving him with enough time to get used to his new look when they successfully pulled of Operation Alpha-Green, because Aomine refused to call it Operation Taste the Rainbow, no matter how hard Kise insisted.

So when Wednesday came, Satsuki took the box of green dye Murasakibara had bought the weekend before out of her bag and subtly handed it to Kuroko at breakfast, who then secretly slipped it into Kise's hands in the changing rooms. And when Midorima tried to get into the showers after practice was over, Aomine was right there to intercept him.

"Hey Midorima," said Aomine as he dropped a hand over the shooting guard's shoulders, "can I talk to you for a sec?"

"What do you want, Aomine?" was Midorima's curt response. The blue-haired boy put on his best smile (which was addmitately more off-putting than reassuring) and answered, "just to spend some time with you, I feel like we haven't talked in ages, man!"

Midorima shot him a suspicious look before saying in a scathing tone, "we just spoke this morning actually. It's no fault of mine if you are so dim-witted as not to remember the conversation," he shook Aomine's arm off him roughly and said, "now I need to go shower, so excuse me."

"Wait!" shouted Aomine tone bordering on desperate. He hadn't delayed Midorima nearly enough for Kise to have been able to slip the hair dye into Midorima's shampoo and make his escape unnoticed. If the shooting guard went in right now he would catch Kise in the act and all their plans would be over before they even began. The rainbow would never be completed. Aomine racked his brain for an excuse to keep Midorima form entering the showers but came up empty. Just as he was about to simply shove Midorima in a closet or something a clear voice rung out and made both of them stop.

"Shintarou."

Aomine flinched violently and turned to look behind him to confirm his horrifying suspicion. Their vice-captain was calmly making his way towards them, looking between the two basketball players with narrowed red-eyes. Aomine felt cold sweat slide down his back. If Akashi caught Kise then there would be no saving the blond, nevertheless saving himself for helping out. He could already imagine the suicide runs he, Kise, Kuroko and Murasakibara would have to if the auburn haired teen found out about their plan.

"I need your help with something, if you would be so kind as to lend me a hand for a few minutes," said Akashi, and how he managed to sound so regal while clad in pijamas was beyond the blue-haired boy.

Aomine saw Midorima falter, looking first at their vice-captain and then to the doors that led to the showers. The blond sighed before nodding towards the auburn-haired boy, "of course Akashi," said Midorima, "what do you need?"

"There's been a slight problem with the owner of the inn and I would appreciate your help with the matter," said Akashi calmly as he gestured towards the other end of the inn and away from the showers, "come with me." Midorima threw once last look at the direction of the bathroom before sighing and walking away. Akashi made to follow him, but after Midorima had rounded the corner the vice-captain turned around and said to Aomine in a low voice, "Daiki, please tell Ryota to hurry along, Shintarou won't be fooled for long."

Aomine stared dumbly after Akashi as the shorter boy went on his way, jaw hanging open as the realisation hit him. Akashi had known all along what they had been trying to do. And he didn't have a problem with it. Even more so, he was helping them pull it off. Aomine felt his respect (and fear, because both Satsuki and Kuroko were one of the sneakiest people you could meet and Aomine had made sure that Kise hand't let anything slip so _just how had Akashi known?_ ) rise for his vice-captain.

Just then Kise came out of the showers, face triumphant as he held up the empty bottle of green dye for Aomine to see.

"All done," said the blond, "now we wait for Midorimacchi's reaction."

And what a reaction it was.

* * *

Midorima's screech (because something that high pitched simply could not be called a scream) woke them all up at five in the morning. The blond - well green-haired now - boy was flailing around in the hallway, frantically pulling at his hair and muttering curses up and down. When Aomine and Kise, the first two to wake up, emerged from their room Midorima immediately wiped around to glare at them, green eyes alight with murder.

"YOU!"

Aomine grinned at the green-haired teen, unrepentant as Midorima screamed, voice shrill in his panic. "You did this to me! What were you idiots thinking?!"

"We still needed the green color," came Kuroko's voice from where he was standing by the bedroom door, voice deadpan as he tried (and failed) to tame his bed head. Midorima just glared at him.

"Yeah," agreed Murasakibara as he came to stand beside Midorima. The purple-haired giant reached down to pat the shooting guard on his green mop of hair as he mumbled sleepily, "you should be glad you're part of the rainbow now too, Mido-chin." Midorima's swatted Murasakibara's hand away and opened his mouth to respond, no doubt to threaten them all with bodily harm and slow, painful death but a voice interrupted him.

"Part of the rainbow?" came the question from the other side of the hallway, where Nijimura-senpai and Akashi were standing, both staring at the scene in amusement.

"Yeah!" exclaimed Kise excitedly as their captain made his way over to them. Akashi went right over to Midorima, putting a comforting hand on his elbow and talking to him quietly to calm him down. "We've got all the colours now," explained Kise, "Aominecchi's blue, Murasakibaracchi is purple," the blond pointed at each team member as he went on, "Kurokocchi's is our light blue and Momocchi is the pink. I'm the yellow, of course and now we've got our very own green thanks to Midorimacchi!" Here Midorima grunted in displeasure but his panic and anger had both receded thanks to Akashi and now he just looked resigned with the whole situation, although he was still giving Aomine and Kise the stink eye. Something that Aomine resented because sure, he and the blond had been the enforcers but the evil plan was all Kuroko.

"There's still one color missing though," pointed out Nijimura. As one, they all turned to loot at Akashi. The auburn-haired vice-captain looked at the third-year, face betraying nothing before he turned towards them and let his lips quirk into a small smile. "It is, isn't it?" asked the short boy.

No one answered, not knowing how to even begin to respond to such a question. Sure, they all wanted Akashi had to dye his hair too, they all wanted to complete the rainbow, but no one was about to point that out. Not to Akashi, who had always seemed so unapproachable and effortlessly elegant that the blue-haired boy would have never even entertained the thought of him actually going along with this crazy crusade of theirs, but the genuine smile that Akashi was giving them, the clear fondness in his eyes when he looked at them all in their pjs with their weird coloured hair made Aomine second guess himself and think that maybe Akashi would.

The auburn-haired boy gave them one last smile before telling them to change and meet him for breakfast when they were ready. Then he left with Nijimura, their shoulders bumping together as the talked in hushed whispers, but Aomine was left with the impression that this particular situation had no yet come to an end. He really hoped it hadn't. They all had put so much effort in this and Aomine really wanted to see this through to the end. And he was sure his other teammates shared the sentiment. Even Midorima seemed to be getting used to the idea, if the way he was smiling slightly at Kise and Satsuki as they told the green-haired shooter how this whole hair-dyeing project began was any indication.

(And, when Akashi arrived at their first practice after the training camp with bright red hair instead of his usual soft-toned auburn, Aomine could't help but grin, bright and wide as they all came to stand in line before Nijimura-senpai, arranged in the order of the rainbow colours as their captain laughed and laughed, loud and warm.

Because yeah, Akashi would. Akashi _did_. And now the rainbow was finally complete.)

* * *

"Okay, I get now the whole deal with the weird hair color," said Himuro Tatsuya as he leaned over the bleacher's railing. His eyes leaving the court where Seirin was playing a match against Kaijou to look towards Nijimura, who was casually lounging on the bleachers as he watched the game. "But that was years ago, there's no way hair dye lasts that long. So why do they keep doing it?" asked Himuro as he tilted his head towards Kise's yellow mop of hair and the flashes of light-blue down at the court.

Nijimura shrugged and turned to look at his friend, "It became a tradition of sorts, I guess. Momoi freaked out once her roots started showing and forced them all to dye their hair again. They all went along with it easily enough, even Akashi, although they did have to trick Midorima again. Since then, they all get together to dye their hair once the color starts washing off." Nijimura let his face melt into a smile just as Seirin scores a three-pointer and the crowd erupts in cheers. "If I'm being completely honest, I really can't remember what they looked like with their natural hair color."

Himuro snorted and said, "I get the feeling. I almost can't remember a time when Taiga didn't have red hair." At that Nijimura found his eyes drifting towards the teen in question. Kagami's hair had been a mystery to him ever since he first saw just who Kuroko's new light was. The color was too bright to be natural and the black tips of the strands were all the confirmation he needed to know that the other teen must have dyed his hair to.

"I've been meaning to ask about that," said Nijimura as soon as the cheers from the public died down after a dunk from Kagami. Himuro smiled, eyes warm as he recounted, "we used to go all out for Halloween back when we both lived in LA. So one year we decided to dye our hair for our pirate costumes but Taiga messed up like he always does and-" Himuro pauses as the buzzer for a penalty catches their attention. There are only a few minutes of the game left though, and Seirin has an eight point advantage, so Nijimura doesn't worry too much.

"Anyways," continued Himuro as the game resumed, "he got a box of permanent dye instead of the hair paint I told him to and then he tried to dye his hair all by himself, so he ended up with a red top and black ends for about six months," Himuro laughs and Nijimura can't help but join in because even thought he hasn't spoken more than a few words with the redhead, that sounded exactly like one of the things the brash teen would do. "Everyone started to calm him Red because they couldn't pronounce his name correctly, so by the time the dye lost its color no one really knew him as Taiga. And so he kept dying it, for simplicity's sake he says, but I know he actually likes the way his hair looks."

"Well," said Nijimura. The crowd held its breath as the last few second of the match ticked away, "he fits right in with my weirdoes." Himuro laughed. The final buzzer cut through the air, signalling the end of the match and Seirin's win.

"Yeah," said Himuro as they both watched Seirin join together into a hug and exchange high-fives and pats on the back with each other, "I think he's been adopted by the Generation of Miracles actually."

"He's like an in-law really," said Nijimura as he spots Kuroko, who's wrapped up in Kagami's arms, face hidden into the taller teens's chest so that only his mop of light-blue hair is visible. The contrast between Kagami's shock of bright red and Kuroko's pale-blue should be off-putting really, but the shades fit together perfectly, for all that they are complete opposites. Like light and shadow, thinks Nijimura but doesn't let the thought slip form his mouth, he's not that sappy.

Still, Nijimura admits to himself as Seirin makes his way out of the court, Kuroko and Kagami hand in hand, they are certainly a splash of color among a sea of black and brown.


End file.
